Polarity-indicator



w. KAISLING. POLARITY INDICATOR.

APPLICATION F ILED JUNE l6. I916.

1,333,422. Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

WILLIAM KAiSLING, on o icA o, ILLINOIS, wAssiciu'on To qKELLOGG sWI'irorI oARD-a D SUPPLY coMrn xoF'oHm Go, ILLINOIS, ,A [CORPORATION or ILLINoIs.

" ronAnIrx-mnrcnron;

5 To all whom itimdy concern:

Be it knownthat I, WILLIAM KArsLius, a citizen of the United States of'A'merica, residing in Chicago,.county of" Cook, and State of'Illinois, have invented. certain new and useful Improvements in Polarity-Indicators, of which the followingjisa-specification; in

My invention. relates in general to a .device for visualizing the direction of the current flowing in a circuit and is particularly adapted for use in connection with the ignition and'li hting circuits of an automobiler'or the line. However, I do not wish to be limited to this particular use of my device as it is apparent that myinvention is of broader scope and maybe connected in any circuit where it is desirable to know the directionof flow of current;

'In connection with the present type of lighting and ignition systems .used on auto mobiles, it is necessary to provide a generator and an accumulator, the one for producing current and the other for storing the produced current for future use, and

due to the varying amounts'of current cons'umed' by the ignition and lighting 'appa ratus, it becomes desirable to knowwhether the generator is producing suflicient cur rent to supply the current consumed by the said apparatus, or whether the accumu lator is supplying the current necessary for carrying the load. To accomplish this result, I have produced a device that may be connected in circuit with theabove referred to apparatusto visualize the directionof flow of current, thereby. makingit possible to ascertain the working condition of the electrical circuits.

' It is the objectof my invention to pro;

duce an improveddevice of this class which will embody desirable features and advan tages. all in a simple, efficient, and economical manner; and to the accomplishment of this object and such others asv may hereiIL afterappear, the invention consists in the novel details of construction, parts, and

combination of parts described, and par,-'

ticularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accom: anying drawings forming a parthereof,

' m'w'hlch'the same reference characters in views,' ancl in which- I I I Figure 1 1s a front v ew of tllGClGVlCG of my'lnvention;

the'cover cap and-indication card removed and I V I I Fig. 6 is a sectional View taken along line 6 -6 of Fig. 1 and looking in the direction of the arrows shown. V-

Referring now more in detail tofmy invention asfillustrated, it comprises a cupspecification olLLetteIS latent. i. P te t d V M 9 192() v n l icatie f fileamne 6',"1'9i6."s m11w0. 1o4,13s.g

dicate p rts throughout the several shaped-mounting.platefEZ upon which the operating mechanism of f the device is mounted and a cover cap 3 for inclosing and protecting this: mechanism;

, A pair of terminal bolts 4 provided with rectangular heads, that pro ect above the top, surface of the mounting plate 2, are insulatingly secured through the medium of the insulating washers l i' and 15, to the said mounting plate 2 and are there held in place bymeans ofthe cylindrical slotted nuts 16.' A back plate 17 *of micarta plate orlany other'suitable insulating material is held against the cylindrical nuts v 16 by ineans of-nutsf12O that have screw-threaded engagementwith the studs 4 and are retained' in position by means of the split washers 18. l

U-shaped. current carrying 6 is provided with integrally formed slde. pleces adapted to fitover. the shoulders of thereotangular heads of the studs 41. to secure the current carrying strip 6 against horizontal movement, and issecurely held in position byfmeans'of round-headed screws. 5. Inte- I grally formed with thecup-shaped member 2' is .a cylindrical depression cup 8 shown'm sectional view in Figs. 2 and-A; l ivotally mounted between thecurrent carrying str1p 6 and the bottom surface of the cup 8 is a polarized diamond-shaped magnet 9. The

shaft 20 which pivotally supports the mag; net-9 isprovided with an aluminum po nter ably, as shown in Fig. 2 by pressing a cy- 'lindrical collar 21 provided with a flange. 22 over the shaft 20 and bythen placing the pointer 10 and the magnet 9 over the upper portion of the collar 21 and securing them thereto by staking over the upper portion of the collar 21. A pair of iron plates 12 and. 13 are secured to-the current carrying strip 6 in any desirable manner, preferably by punching 'orifices'2 l and 25 in the strip 6 and by then riveting the raised portion of the metal over theupper surfaces of the said plates 12 and 13. 1

The function or the soft iron plates 12 and 13 is to maintain the pointer 10 when no current is traversing the current carrying strip,,in its normal position, whichposition is indicated by the reference character Ono matter what position the device may be in;

One extremity of'the cylindrical cap 3 is spun over to form a shoulder 125 against which a. circular transparent window 26 is held in place by means of a cylindricalcollar 27 which. fits tightly within the cylindrical cap 3.

l-Iaving described the parts that" go to i make upn y device, I will now explain its function and use. In the case where my device isused in connection with the electrical circuits of an automobileit is so connected in circuit that current will flow through the strip 6 in one direction if the generator is charging the accumulator and in the other direction if the accumulator is supplying current to the operating circuits. The flow of current through the current carrying strip sets up a magnetic field around saidstrip, as is well understood, which causes the polarized m net 5 t a te H-Q time right angles to the current carryingconductor, in one intance to the leftii the current is traversing in one direction and in the other instance to the rightif the current is flowing in the 0p posite direction, thus causing the pointer i be moved to the right to indicate thatthe accumulator being charged orto the left to indicate that the accumulator is supply- 111;: current to the operating circuits.

From theforegoing descriptiomit is believed that the general utility and the funct on of my device will be readily understood without showing and describing circuit con: nections in detail;

In illustrating my invention, I 1 have chosena preferred form, but it is to be understood that many changes andniodifications thereof may be nade, therefore I do not, desire, tobe limited to the exact structare :hut s 1 al i such.

changes and modifications as come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as new and desireto secure by United States Letters Patent, is:

:l. A device of the character described -C01DPIlSHlg a niountmg plate, a current carrying conductor secured tosaid plate,

, visualizing the direction of flow of current through a circuit, a fiat current carrying conductor for said device, an oscillatory: elongated polarized member lying in a plane parallel to the plane of said conductor, an indicatingmember secured to said elongated member, and a soft iron member carried by said flat current carrying conductor for maintaining said indicating memberin its normal position so that; a flow of current through said conductor will cause said indicating member to visualizethe direction of flow of current through said conductor.

3. A device of the character described including a mounting plate,a pair of terminals connected to said mounting plate, a U- shaped current carrying strip bridged across said terminals, van oscillatory polarized needle pivotally secured between said mounting plate and said current carrying strip, a magnetic piece secured to said current carryin strip, to hold said polarized needle in its normal position, and an indicator attached to said polarized needle for visualizing the direction of current, flow through said current carrying strip.

4:. A device of the character described-including a mounting base,v a flat current carrying strip secured to said mounting base, an oscillatory polarized needle pivotallysecured between said current carrying strip and said mounting base and having hearings in said current, carrying strip andsai'd mounting base, a magnetic member secured, to said strip to maintain said needle its nor: mal position when there is no current passing through said conductor, and an indicating device movable with said polarized needle for visualizing the direction of cur rent flow through said conductor.

A device of the character described for visualizingthe direction of flow of current through a circuit, including a mounting base, a cylindrical depression made in said base, a pair of terminals, secured to, said base, a flat current carrying conductor bridged acrosssaid terminals, an oscillatory rqlauacdeeedle nireta iyl secure betw en said conductor and said mounting base and having hearings in said conductor and in said depressed portion of .said mounting base, andmeansfor maintaining said polarized needle in its normal position When current is not traversing said conductor.

6. A device of the character described for visualizing the direction of flow of current through a circuit, including, a mounting base, a cylindrical depression madecin saidbase, a pair of terminals secured to said base,

' a flat current carrying conductor bridged terminals, 1 mounted on a shaft below said current carryacross said terminals, an oscillatory polarized needle pivotally secured between said conductor and said mounting base and having bearings in said conductor and in said depressed portion of said mounting base, and an indicating device movable with said polarized needle for visualizing the direcctlon of flow of current through said c011- ductor.

7. A device of the character described in v eluding a circular base plate, acup-shaped depression in said base plate, a pair of terminals secured to said base plate, a current carrying conductor connected across said a polarized magnetic needle ing conductor, one end of said. shaft extendlng into said depression, and pleces of magnet c material mounted dlametrlcally opposite each other for maintaining said polarized needle in normal position When no current is traversing sald current carrying conductor.

8. A current visualizing device including a mounting plate, a current carrying con-' ductor supportedby said plate in a plane parallel to the plane of said plate, a perma- 7 nently polarized magnetic needle rotatably mounted in a plane parallel to the plane of said plate and current carrying conductor, anon-polarized magnetic member supcarrying conductor bridged across said terminals, a permanently polarized magnetic needle mounted 1n 1uxtapos1t1on to sald current carrying conductor, a palr of soft iron members supported by said conductor for maintaining said needle in its normal position, a dial secured to said terminals, and

an indicating member adapted to be rotated over said dial by said polarized needle to vers'ing said conductor.

Signed byme atChicago, county of Cook and State of Illinois, in the presence oftwo witnesses.

-WILLIAM KAISLING. Witnesses: I l

G. A. Yonoorrowsxr, WM, BERGHAHU.

visualize the direction thecurrent is trans- 

